CAP. IV.
Of the Castle, Chapel and College of Windsor, &c.

Having dispatch’d the several Orders of Knighthood, and trac’d them from their proper Fountains, we come now to treat of the most Noble Order of the Garter; an Order, that not only grants Merit, and Honourable, and Valiant Exploits at Home, but what Imperial Heads and Persons, fam’d for the Antiquity of their Race, or Gallantry of Actions, have always esteem’d a further Advancement to their Glory therein to be enroll’d. For the better Explanation, it will be necessary to begin with the Description of the Castle, Chapel, and College of Windsor. The Place claims no greater Antiquity than of the Saxons, named by them Windleshore, and, as Cambden conjectures, had the Denomination from the Winding of a Shore thereabouts, as did Wandsworth in Surry, heretofore written Windlesworth. The first authentick Notice is from the Donation which King Edward the Confessor made thereof to the Monks of Westminster, (as the Charter expresses it) For the Hope of eternal Reward, the Remission of all his Sins, the Sins of his Father, Mother, and all his Ancestors, to the Praise of Almighty, &c. he grants Wyndleshore, with all its Appurtenances, as an Endowment and perpetual Inheritance, to the Use of the Monks there, and at Westminster, that served GOD. Those Monks enjoy’d it not long, for King William the Conqueror, in the first Year of his Reign, being greatly enamour’d with the pleasant Situation and Commodiousness of the Place, situate so near the Thames, and the Wood fit for Game, invited Eadwin, the then Abbot, and the Monks, to accept in Exchange for it, Wokendune in Essex, a Mansion called Ferings, with all its Members and Hamlets, together with Fourteen Sokemen and their Lands, and one Freeholder, and Three Houses in Colchester, all in Essex, since which it has remained in the Crown.

The King being thus possess’d, forthwith built a Castle upon the Hill, which, in Doomsday Book, contained half an Hide of Land, and is there noted to be Parcel of the Mannor of [Clivore] Clure. This Castle King Henry I. rebuilt, and beautified with great Magnificence, and, in the Tenth Year of his Reign, held his Whitsontide there with great State and Splendor. Shortly after, in a Charter of Peace between King Stephen and Duke Henry, (King Henry II. afterwards) this Castle was called Mola de Windesor, the Fortress of Windesor. Within this Castle was King Edward III. born, (commonly called Edward of Windsor) and was baptized in the old Chapel; and so great was his Affection to that Place, that he constituted it the Seat of the most noble Order of the Garter; and to embellish it the more, he founded the College of the Chapel of St. George, and much enlarged, and beautified the Castle.

For this Work he appointed several Surveyors, whom he assigned to press Hewers of Stone, Carpenters, and such other Artificers as were thought useful and necessary, as also to provide Stone, Timber, and all other Materials for them. William de Wyckham (who attained to be Bishop of Winchester) was one of these Supervisors, and had that Place conferr’d on him by Letters Patent, October 30. Ed. III. And a Grant of the same Fee was likewise allowed to Robert de Bernham, viz. One Shilling a Day, while he was at Windsor, Two Shillings when he went elsewhere about that Affair, and Three Shillings per Week to his Clerk; afterwards he was chief Custos and Surveyor of this Castle, of the Mannors of Old and New Windsor, and of other Castles, Mannors, &c. belonging to the King, to provide Workmen, and look after the Repairs, and in those Mannors to hold Leets and other Courts, Pleas of Trespass and Misdemeanours.

About the 34th of Ed. III. it is presumed the most considerable Enlargement of the Castle was made, seeing there was then great Store of the ablest Diggers and Masons impress’d, by virtue of Writs directed to the several Sheriffs, with Command under 100 l. Penalty to send them to Windsor the Sunday after the Feast of St. George, to work at the Kings Charge, from whence they were not to depart without Wyckham’s License, Security having been first taken by the Sheriffs, and returned into Chancery. London found Forty; Essex, in conjunction with Hertford, Forty; Wilts, Leicester, with Worcester, Cambridge, with Huntington Forty, Kent, Gloucester, Somerset, with Devon, and Northampton, one with another, found also Forty a-piece. And because divers of these Workmen, for Gain and Advantage, clandestinely left Windsor to the Hindrance of the Work, all Persons were forbid to employ or retain them under Forfeiture of all they had, and likewise to arrest those that withdrew themselves from the Work, and commit them to Newgate. A. 36. Ed. III. many of them being swept away by the Pestilence, the like Writs were directed to other Sheriffs, under a Hundred Pound Penalty, to send able Men; whereupon the Counties of York sent Sixty, Derby Twenty Four, Salop Sixty, Hereford Fifty, Nottingham Twenty Four, Lancaster Twenty Four, and Devon Sixty. A. 37. Ed. III. The noble Edifice was ready for Glazing, and of Twenty Four of that Occupation impress’d for the King’s Service, Twelve were to be employed at Windsor. In this Year and the next a great Proficiency was made, and vast Quantities of Stone were amassed, dug out of the Quarries of Wellesfor, Newel, and Carby, and other Places. From the 37th to the 43d, the Building of the Castle was diligently pursued. We find no Addition to this august Pile till his 48th Year, and after that Time nothing more during his Reign, so that it is supposed this Famous Piece for Magnificence and Strength was then chiefly finished, viz. the Great Hall of St. George, the Lodgings on the East and South side of the Upper Ward, the Keep or Tower in the Middle Ward, the Chapel of St. George, the Houses for the Custos and the Canons in the Lower Ward, with the whole Circumference of the Walls, their several Towers and Gates, as in the present Posture they remain.

In succeeding Times King Hen. VII. added that stately Fabrick adjoining to the King’s Lodgings, in the Upper Ward. King Hen. VIII. re-edified the great Gate at the Entrance into the Lower Ward. King Edw. VI. began, and Queen Mary perfected the Conveying the Water, from Blackmore-Park in Wingfield Parish, into a Fountain of curious Workmanship erected in the Middle Ward, which supplied all the Castle. Queen Elizabeth made a Terrace Work on the North side of the Castle; from whence there is a pleasant Prospect down upon Eaton-bridge, the Thames, and the adjacent Country. King Charles I. A. D. 1636. built the Gate at the East end of the Terrace, which leads into the Park. And lastly, King Charles II. greatly beautified and repair’d the Fabrick, and furnish’d it with a curious Armory; and, in fine, every Thing is so fitly disposed and ordered, that they are worthy of the Notice of every nice and curious Traveller.

Camden elegantly describes its Situation in Prose in this manner: From an Hill (says he) that rises with a gentle Ascent, it enjoyeth a most delightful Prospect round about; foreright, in the Front, it overlooketh a Vale, lying out far and wide, garnished with Corn Fields, flourishing with Meadows, deck’d with Groves on either side, and watered with the most mild and calm River Thames. Behind it arise Hills every where, neither rough nor over high, attired, as it were with Woods, and even dedicated, as one would say, by Nature, to hunting Game.

And thus Denham’s Muse pourtrays it:

Windesor, the next (where Mars with Venus dwells,

Beauty with Strength) above the Valley swells